


Akumatized / Aged Up

by mrs_berry



Series: Avril Amour (Adrinette April 2019) [18]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette, Adrinette April, Adrinette April 2019, Aged Up, Aged-Up Character(s), Akumatized, Akumatized Marinette Dupain-Cheng, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Mentions of Suicidal Thoughts, Some Humor, adrienette - Freeform, rating is M for mentions of suicidal thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2020-01-25 13:54:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18575833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrs_berry/pseuds/mrs_berry
Summary: Adrien is faced with an akumatized Marinette. How will he deal with her while untransformed and without Ladybug?(This work was written for the Adrinette April 2019 prompts: Akumatized and Aged Up.)





	Akumatized / Aged Up

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: there are mentions of suicidal thoughts in this fic. If this may trigger you, please do not read.
> 
> Sorry for not posting lately, I have been sick with a cold (still am, but finally had the will to write something).
> 
> Usually I stick with one prompt per fic or chapter, but I decided to break my own rules for this particular one. I hope it turned out okay.

"Thank you for telling me your feelings, Marinette. I'm flattered," Adrien gave her a warm smile, which then vanished as he hesitated to continue. Biting his lip, he struggled to get his next words out. He didn't want to hurt this amazing young woman, his close friend and former classmate. But he had little choice, as he knew she hated liars and he needed to tell her the truth. "But I love someone else."

Marinette's throat was dry. She had a strong inkling that was the case and her instincts were rarely wrong, but it was a whole different story to have it actually confirmed by the man himself. She licked her lips and cleared her throat.

"W-who?" she croaked out. Maybe she shouldn't ask, but she felt she at least wanted to know who he could have fallen for without her noticing. She had watched him so carefully for years and he had treated everyone the same; yet apparently, there was a special someone after all.

Adrien chuckled awkwardly and shifted his weight between his feet. His arm came up as he reached to scratch at the back of his neck in an anxious gesture.

"Um, it's Ladybug," he reluctantly answered. He felt she deserved as much, being that she was a close friend and was always honest with him. He was worried, though, that she would ask further questions, not believe him, or think his love was for shallow reasons.

However, it seemed those particular worries were unwarranted. Instead, something much worse was about to take place.

"Look out!" Adrien cried out and was just about to barrel into her to knock her out the way.

Unfortunately, he was too late. Marinette was already engulfed in purple smoke, having been possessed by one of Hawk Moth's evil butterflies.

The only stroke of luck was that he had seen the object that held the akuma: her earrings.

Marinette reappeared from the smoke in a new form. Her hair was loose and looked like threads used for sewing; different colours throughout her head gave her a very colourful hair style. Her clothes were all patchy and full of stitches; they reminded Adrien of the characters in a Tim Burton movie. And in her hands were two giant sewing needles the size of swords.

Marinette went still as the purple moth frame appeared over her face and allowed Hawk Moth to communicate with her.

Adrien could not hear his voice, so instead he grabbed her shoulders and tried to reason with her. But it was to no avail as she could not hear him over Hawk Moth's voice.

"Yes, Hawk Moth. But first, I must mend my heart by breaking others. Specifically, Adrien Agreste's."

With that, the communicator disappeared and Marinette was ready for action.

In that moment, Marinette raised the needle in her right hand and swung it down with great force, in an effort to hit her target.

Adrien, thankfully, somersaulted out of the way in time with a yelp.

"Stop this, Marinette, this isn't you! This isn't what you would want!" Adrien called out, trying again to reason with her.

"Shut up! My name is Anti-Seamstress! I will be the one unravelling your heart this time!" she barked out angrily, before darting towards him again.

Adrien kept doing his best to dodge, but his civilian self just didn't have the speed and agility that he had in his superhero form. As a result, he knew he needed to get away in order to transform, but was having difficulty finding an opening.

"Marinette, please don't be upset! You're still amazing and any guy would be lucky to have you," he reassured, dancing out of the way of her left-handed attack this time. "I'm just too dumb and loyal to be that guy."

Anti-Seamstress looked hurt for a moment, rather than raging mad.

"Why?" she mumbled, as if to herself.

Adrien was stunned. She seemed to have gained control of herself just now. But the moment was fleeting.

"Why does everyone prefer Ladybug?" she spat, regaining her anger. "Why is she so much better?"

Lashing out again, her weapon missed Adrien's body by a mere thread.

He couldn't directly answer without hurting her or giving away his identity, so he tried comforting her again.

"Don't compare yourself to a superhero! You have so many wonderful qualities and people who love you!"

Her face went livid, as she paused mid-attack.

Straightening herself and walking ominously slow towards Adrien, he could feel goosebumps. It turned out that someone as sweet and helpful as Marinette could be very fierce and intimidating as a villain.

"Oh? You say that... yet you don't love me. You say that and yet I _am_ Ladybug. So I can compare myself all I want and you can stop pretending you love me when you don't even love my _real_ self," she spoke with an eerily calm and even voice. Yet, the venom and sharpness pierced into Adrien's heart even before the needle itself followed through and hit its mark.

Negative feelings impaled him along with the sharp blade. He felt happiness and joy being sapped out of him, while being replaced with every horrible emotion imaginable. Despair, loneliness, anxiety, rage, rejection, inadequacy, worthlessness; all of these and more overtook every fibre of his being.

And a voice filled his mind with hurtful words: _Ladybug will never love you. Your father doesn't love you. Your friends deserve better than you. You're useless. Nobody wants you around. You don't deserve to live. The world would be better off without you._

Adrien broke as these types of thoughts trapped him. Tears freely flowed out of his eyes and his heart began to tear in two.

"Adrien," a soft voice whispered.

He bit his lip and put his face into his hands as sobs racked throughout his entire being.

"Adrien!" the voice spoke with more urgency. Suddenly, his shoulders began shaking, but not from his sobs.

Adrien gasped, as his eyes snapped open and he found himself in completely different surroundings with hands firmly gripping his shoulders.

It took him several moments to register where he was and who had been calling his name.

He finally recognized it as a bedroom.

His cheeks were suddenly gently cupped and his head was forced to the side to look at the woman who had been calling his name.

Marinette.

After a few more seconds, reality finally came flooding back.

Marinette, his wife, gazed deeply into his eyes. He then realized he was in _their_ bedroom.

"Hey, sweetie-kitty, are you okay now?" she cooed, wiping the tears that were still leaking from his eyes.

Adrien swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded.

"Looks like you were having a pretty bad nightmare," she noted with a twinkle of sympathy and worry in her eyes. "Want to tell me about it?"

"Um..." Adrien shook his head and cleared his throat. "Maybe later. Right now, can we just cuddle?"

Marinette gave him a loving smile.

"Of course, anything you need, my love," she reassured, peppering a few kisses on his now dry face, and then snuggled into his arms and traced meaningless patterns onto his bare chest with a gentle finger.

They went silent and Adrien took comfort in the feeling of her warm body against his and her finger dancing along his torso, the only noise being their breathing.

After he felt grounded enough, he decided to tell her about his nightmare, just to get it off his chest.

"You were akumatized," he whispered.

Marinette shifted back to look up into his eyes. She searched them for a moment, probably trying to decide how to respond. After finding what it was she was looking for, an amused smile took over her lips.

"Oh dear. Did you forget to pick Emma and Louis up from school in your dream?" she asked with a giggle. She was joking, of course, trying to lighten the mood and lift his spirits.

Adrien chuckled, nuzzling into his wife's silky smooth locks.

"Nope. I rejected you for Ladybug," he sighed, the smile slipping away from his lips, sounding upset with himself.

"Well I don't blame you. Ladybug rocked that spandex outfit," she smirked and swept her fingernails lightly along his chest in attempt to tickle him. She was pleased with the laughter she had brought out.

"You still would, you know," Adrien admitted in a husky voice.

"Oh you!" Marinette swatted him in mock-scolding. "Then again, I'm sure you'd also still rock the leather skin-tight suit. You still have managed to avoid the dreaded dad-bod that people expect fathers to develop."

That earned some more hearty chuckles from her husband.

"Anyway, I'm sorry that I was a little crazy back then," Marinette pouted and gave him puppy eyes.

"You weren't!" Adrien immediately defended her. "I was just oblivious, blind, and in denial!"

Marinette laughed and slid her fingers into his hair.

"That was part of your charm, though. So innocent and blindly devoted to the first girl you fell for," she said with a wink.

He beamed at her. She was so sweet and he always wondered how he had been so lucky to end up with her. He rubbed circles on her back as he looked into her brilliant blue eyes that were crinkled into an equally brilliant smile.

She gave him a quick peck, before her expression morphed into something more serious.

"So, what exactly was it that made my sweet husband cry? Did I say something hurtful?"

Adrien bit his lip. It was kind of hard to voice what his deepest dark thoughts had been. She knew everything about him, though, including the insecurities he held back then. He just hadn't felt them in such a long time; it had hurt feeling them again as though they were fresh and still prominent in his heart.

Marinette remained silent. She didn't want to force him and she would let him speak on his own terms.

"You stabbed me with a magical needle and caused my heart to break from all the negative emotions and thoughts I had ever had. It was both physically and psychologically the most pain I had ever experienced and it all happened in a matter of seconds... it was just overwhelming," Adrien quietly explained. "And the thoughts were... very dark and suicidal. I wouldn't wish them upon anyone."

Marinette looked into her partner's sad eyes as he spilled his nightmare's secrets. Gently, she pulled herself up higher on the bed, then pulled his head into her chest to cradle him and protect him from the harsh world.

"I'm so sorry, Adrien. I'm sure it must have been awful. I wish I could have woken you sooner," she whispered comfortingly into his hair.

He wrapped his arms around her and indulged himself by burrowing his face into her soft chest, covered by the softest fabric he had ever felt. Trust a designer to wear the softest and highest quality fabrics to bed.

He smiled, then. His nightmare had been truly terrible, but it had made waking up so much better. It made him appreciate all over again how amazing his life was now.

"I love you, Marinette. Ladybug. Light of my life," he murmured and then pulled back to look at her gorgeous face.

Smiling sweetly, Marinette put her forehead to his.

"I love you, Adrien. Chat Noir. Apple of my eye," she murmured back.

Adrien pulled her in for a loving kiss and more; nightmares and akumatizations now the furthest things from their minds.

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is actually covering three prompts; the third being Nightmare. For obvious reasons, I did not include that in the title, summary, or tags. Hopefully I managed to fool a few of you haha!
> 
> But in all seriousness, this was probably the least light and happy fic I've written to date. I'm not great with reading angst and I pretty much never write it, so I really hope it came across okay. I also hope that my warnings were sufficient and no one was triggered by anything in this fic.
> 
> On a lighter note, I'd love and appreciate if you could leave comments and kudos! Hopefully they will help me get better quicker... 😂😭😷❤


End file.
